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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23400790">and by his banner</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatocages/pseuds/bog%20gremlin'>bog gremlin (tomatocages)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>trope bingo fills [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Established Relationship, M/M, Politics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:01:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,219</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23400790</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatocages/pseuds/bog%20gremlin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After long years at war, Takashi, the lord Shirogane, rightful king of Arus, returns to the throne.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Shiro (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>trope bingo fills [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679653</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>129</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>and by his banner</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinspiration/gifts">sinspiration</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>knight x royalty au requested by ils from <a href="https://twitter.com/redluxite/status/1240604539515834368?s=20">redluxite’s trope bingo</a> (O-1). Title from The Knight's Tale (Chaucer).</p>
<p>This was <a href="https://twitter.com/ohheck11/status/1241172561851027456?s=20">originally posted on Twitter</a>, but has been edited and expanded.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s amazing, Shiro thinks, that what they've gone through can be distilled into the word </span>
  <em>
    <span>after</span>
  </em>
  <span>. His enemies are defeated, his loyal courtiers reinstated, his former betrothed released from their long engagement, his people slowly set the rights; it takes time, and will continue to take time. One task, however, will wait no longer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“”Keith,” Shiro says, and Keith is by his side in an instant. Like always. “Summon the court,” Shiro commands. The throne room is littered with leaves and shredded tapestries, but is otherwise bare; he would have it filled with witnesses. If they are reluctant, so much the better; they will do well with a reminder that Shiro is their king. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith looks up at him, eyes blazing with a faith that is never shaken. “Yes, my lord,” he says, despite being tired, and cold, and likely hungry. Shiro misses the road they travelled together already; he misses how Keith called him </span>
  <em>
    <span>Shiro</span>
  </em>
  <span> and treated him as a beloved friend, not a sovereign. In the halls of the castle, Shiro is Takashi when he’s even addressed by name. More often, he’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>sir</span>
  </em>
  <span> or </span>
  <em>
    <span>my liege</span>
  </em>
  <span> or </span>
  <em>
    <span>your majesty</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It’s hard to tell if he aches from the weight of the responsibility, or if he aches from what the war did to him. Shiro has always anticipated having his title, his kingdom, his throne; now he will have all three again, restored after much tribulation. Shiro does not think himself greedy; far from it. He accepts these things as his due, he has bled and fought for them, and he will devote much of his life to their safekeeping.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Much of his life, yes; but not all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While Keith gathers the remaining courtiers, Shiro removes his prosthetic hand and replaces it with the sword Allura enchanted for him. It’s an extension of his body, sharp and white and deadly; it has been anointed with blood and water and fire, and it is so powerful that the magic crawls from the shoulder joint into his bones. Shiro much prefers having the use of two hands. But the sword is necessary. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He steps onto the dias and raises his right arm, lets the dim light of the hall catch off the edge of the blade. A hush fills the room; only Keith is unafraid of what Shiro has become. Shiro came back from the war changed, his hair shocked white and his frame made heavy with muscle. He’s no longer Arus’ beautiful prince, full of potential; he’s a man, a king. Shiro is the power and the throne. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shiro knights Keith in that hall, in the presence of those who once thought themselves better than him. He feels a little cruel about it; Keith is worth thousands of them. Shiro lays his sword arm against one narrow shoulder, then the other; he taps the edge of the blade against the scar on Keith’s face. Keith closes his eyes and leans against the edge, trusting. If his right arm had a hand at the end of it instead of a blade, Shiro could stroke Keith’s cheek. For now, the sword will do; Keith knows the language of swords. Keith is the one who bargained with Allura to make this one, and he sacrificed dearly for it. Even without this terrible gift in the balance, Shiro would not allow for Keith to continue unrecognized. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Rise,” Shiro says. “Behold: our servant Keith, our trusted friend, now a knight of Arus. We honor him and his service. You shall do likewise.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The horrified sounds the courtiers make are laughable. They echo off the high ceilings. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith says nothing. He stands, and moves neatly into the empty space at Shiro’s side; Keith has crept along in that spot, like a shadow, for all the years Shiro has ever known him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>—</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The chambers Shiro lies down in that night are too large and empty and opulent, even if the blankets smell like a preserving chest. It can’t really be helped; the keeper of the house had very little notice of Shiro’s return by design, and it’s not as though it’s a bad smell, or a smell worse than that of damp horses. The real disappointment is the empty spot on the mattress beside him, but Shiro knows: that will soon be filled. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith creeps in after the last night watchman passes the doorway, and makes to lay across the threshold of the room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Keith, please,” Shiro says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“As you wish, Shiro,” Keith says. The door is heavy and hides their voices from any who might stand in the halls, listening. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come to bed, you ruffian,” Shiro responds. He throws back an edge of the coverlet. “It smells like cedar and dead herbs in here, you can’t make it worse.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Says you,” Keith shucks off his boots and tunic before lying down on the bed. He’s just wearing his leggings and shirt now; he looks as though he’s had a bath. Shiro had forgotten how pale Keith’s skin was, under the dust from the road. “I don’t know what was in the soap Hunk mashed into my hair.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shiro values everything Keith will ever say to him, but right now, he values the warm line of Keith’s body up against his own a little more. “I’m surprised you let him that close.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I must be losing my touch. Mmm — ” It’s been days since Shiro last kissed Keith; he makes it count. When he pulls away, Keith’s eyes are closed and he’s flushed becomingly across his face and down his exposed chest. Shiro pulls him closer; it ruins the view, but the feel of Keith’s waist beneath Shiro’s broad hands more than makes up for it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is it strange,” Shiro murmurs, “that I miss the miserable nest where we slept in the woods?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is how I know you’re a noble,” Keith says. He’s always been pragmatic. “You don’t miss the woods or that nest.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh?” Shiro rolls over on top of Keith, squashing his knight deep into the bedclothes. It’s delicious. “What am I missing, </span>
  <em>
    <span>sir</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know,” Keith says, grunting a bit under the weight but settling in regardless, “It seems to have slipped my mind. Oh, well, I’m only a common — ”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shiro doesn’t just kiss Keith to shut him up; he undresses him properly, too, and bites at the scar across Keith’s jaw, the scar Keith got saving Shiro from himself. “Nothing common about you, my love,” Shiro growls.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keith clings to Shiro’s broad shoulders and kisses back — and kisses him, and kisses him. “You gave me a shitty reward today, Shiro,” he manages. “I never cared for titles.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And I’ll do whatever it takes,” Shiro counters, “to make sure I can keep you by my side.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But a knighthood?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you don’t like it,” Shiro says, and he emphasizes the threat by sliding a hand beneath the curve of Keith’s thigh, right up against the muscle of his ass,  “I’ll make you my consort instead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fighting words, sire,” Keith gasps. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shiro likes that noise, and indulges in another caress, to offer a compelling argument for Keith to make that sound again. “Fighting words,” Shiro agrees, dark and laughing. “You know how I’m an excellent tactician.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And I,” Keith says, before the both of them shut up, “am one who always stands his ground.”</span>
</p>
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